There is a pretty, fragrant, and deadly alien tentacling its way across India.
And we’ve woken up to the problem really late.
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The lantana has had a headstart of about 200 years.
In the early 1800s, hybridised varieties of Lantana camara, a species native to South America, were introduced to India by colonisers, as ornamental hedges.
Their tiny flowers, which grow in bouquets of different shades, were certainly charming. But the plants then quickly escaped their gardens and began to make their way into farms, pastures and forests.
There, they suffocate native vegetation. They have since become a dominant species in protected areas such as the Bandipur sanctuary in Karnataka and the Kumaon region of the Himalayas.
The shrub has also spread through the Delhi Ridge, across large parts of the Nilgiris, and through sections of the Western Ghats.
It releases chemicals into the soil that inhibit the growth of other plants. This can cause a food crisis for herbivores, since native animals cannot eat the lantana. (Its bitter leaves contain hepatotoxins that cause liver damage and death, even in small quantities.)
Incidents of tigers venturing into farmland, and elephants wandering into villages, have been traced to a dwindling supply of their natural foods (deer, and edible plants), as the shrub invades more of their habitats.
This story has repeated itself around the world.
Lantana camara is among the most widespread invasive alien species worldwide, according to a first-of-its-kind 2023 global assessment report by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
“It is invasive in more than 60 countries,” says Tarsh Thekaekara, conservationist, researcher and co-founder of Shola Trust, an NGO that is working to preserve habitats in the Nilgiris.
A big part of Shola Trust’s mission, since it was set up in 2007, has been finding ways to deal with this invasive. In terms of success, all they can say is that the fight continues.
A 2020 paper by the research body Wildlife Institute of India, published in journal Global Ecology and Conservation, suggests that lantana species now cover more than 150,000 sq km of forest land alone (that’s a total area just a little smaller than the state of Andhra Pradesh).
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It isn’t easy to oust.
It is hardy, highly adaptable plant and can thrive in a range of climates and landscapes.
It is fire-tolerant and has no natural predators in India.
It spreads via seeds dispersed by birds, but it can also sprout from stem cuttings.
Burn it and its roots regenerate. Rip it out of the ground and even tiny fragments that remain grow into new shrubs.
Meanwhile, Indian laws are still struggling to catch up.
A 2022 amendment to the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 finally defined “invasive alien species” and granted the central government the power to regulate them. “However, the central government is yet to publish a list of these species or frame regulations under the Act,” says Debadityo Sinha, a conservationist and senior resident fellow with the think tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. “Until that happens, this section cannot be used to drive change.”
As a result, the lantana doesn’t just remain a largely unaddressed threat. It even shows up in plant nurseries, and on online lists of shrubs that one may buy for a garden, in order to attract butterflies.